Collaboration Among Sex Offender Treatment Providers and Probation and Parole Officers: The Beliefs and Behaviors of Treatment Providers

New and emerging collaborative responses to sex offender management are challenging traditional notions about how treatment providers and probation and parole officers (POs) deliver services to this difficult population. Typically, sex offender treatment professionals provide community-based services to offenders who are supervised by POs. Yet, no comprehensive survey has investigated how treatment providers and POs collaborate and view their relationships with each other. This national random survey examined the beliefs and behaviors of community-based adult sex-offender treatment providers concerning various types of provider and PO interactions and collaborative models. Overall, treatment providers reported that they value frequent and substantive communication with POs concerning mutual clients. There was, however, considerable diversity in practice and opinion among providers with regard to POs leading, coleading, and observing sex offender treatment groups. Treatment providers' opinions about various clinical, ethical, and legal issues evident in these collaborative approaches are examined.